Work in Holland

in the 1600's

Nouvelles de la republique des lettres

Primary tabs

Nouvelles de la république des lettres

Nouvelles de la république des lettres (News from the Republic of Letters) was a periodical devoted to reviews of current publications, edited and in large part written by Pierre Bayle. Written in French and published in Amsterdam (to escape censorship) beginning in 1684, it is the first known book review journal.

Bayle edited it from March 1684 through February 1687, the period when he published excerpts of two of Leeuwenhoek's letters in the autumn of 1684, a year after the letters were published in volume 13 of Philosophical Transactions. The journal was continued by others, its publication suspended from 1689 to 1699 and from 1710 to 1716. The final issue was published in June 1718. Henri was the publisher from the beginning until 1708. Alle de Brieven / Collected Letters, Vol. 4, notes that two of Leeuwenhoek's letters were excerpted in this journal.

The first, Letter 37 of January 22, 1683, addressed to Christopher Wren, was published in September 1684 (not August, as in Alle de Brieven / Collected Letters vol. 4, p. 2) on pages 646 to 653. It had been published in Philosophical Transactions, vol 13, number 145, on March 10, 1683, with 7 figures.

The second, Letter 38 of July 16, 1683, also addressed to Wren, was published in October 1684, on pages 801 to 806. It had been published in Philosophical Transactions, vol 13, number 152 on October 20, 1683, with 5 figures.

Both Nouvelles de la république des lettres excerpts are in Latin, presumably because of the topic, reproduction, even though the Philosophical Transactions excerpts are in English. The only figure is the one labeled Fig 1 in Leeuwenhoek's self-published volumes. It has three different drawings, and was thus noted as 3 figures in Alle de Brieven / Collected Letters.